Why are they so inappropriate given his age (I believe the BOLM gives it as 23)?

I've heard two interesting guesses about "what" Eddie is; that he's a manifestation meant to represent the part of James that has little to no regret for what he's done, flees from consequences, and embraces delusion, or that he's James' paper-thin facade of amnesia and innocence (hence the ill-fitting clothing) that doesn't hold up under close scrutiny.

Now, I don't believe Eddie is a manifestation. There's nothing to indicate that we're supposed to think of him as anything less than a real person. I do think he could have been designed to represent those aspects of James' personality and the possible outcomes of his journey to Silent Hill. But, I dunno.

So with all that said, if there's not anything more to Eddie than what we see, what's with the ridiculously inappropriate clothes?

...that is, when he isn't homicidal. Plus, I think he might have low self-esteem based on being insulted for his weight and intelligence (based on his rant in the labyrinth). So, he probably just wears whatever, even if he does look like just a great big kid.

Mentally, he's a child. He denies and then attempts to justify his crimes in a juvenile manner, in a way that I think represents James' own denial of his crime.

I also don't think Eddie is necessarily a manifestation, just that Silent Hill sort of 'chose' him for the very purpose of not only punishing him for his own crimes, but illuminating James' own childlike denial of his crime. When he kills Eddie, he becomes aware of his capacity to kill a human being, Angela and Laura serve a similar purpose, reflecting James' guilt toward the victim, and unspoiled love for Mary respectively.

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I was always more concerned with his off set eyes, personally. Then I found out they did that on purpose. I think everything about his appearance is supposed to put you on edge. I think they were going for "something ain't right with this guy right here."

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I still don't get what we're talking about. Eddie dresses like any overweight, immature early 20s guy I've ever known.

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In fairness, James is suffering from a severe case of dissociative fugue brought on by extreme emotional and psychological trauma, which is itself a form of severe denial.

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Even if that's technically true, it is not a denial which resembles Eddie's in any way, as Eddie is fully aware of what he has done (in fact, is doing) and is just lying about it until he feels safe enough to not bother anymore.

James' case does not involve juvenile justification of what he has done because his denial is so profound he doesn't even know it happened. Once he is made aware, he accepts it without complaint or refusal.

Eddie's extremely visceral reaction to the body in the fridge makes me wonder if he wasn't unaware of what he had done for some time as well. James regretted and despised his actions while Eddie embraced them. Other than that, I think they both had a similar episode.

That goes for Angela too. I don't think she remembered what she had done until the town forced her to confront it.

_________________"I dreamt last night I saw youA single spark explosion negotiating with the deadBy the bright lights in some ICU on my chest you put your headand said "There you are.There you are.There's my heart..."

James' 'amnesia' could be symbolic and not literal. It may be that, like Eddie, a part of James is fully aware of his crime, it's that his entire journey through Silent Hill is a metaphor for his inner reaction to his crime: First he is so horrified by it, that his mind blocks it out completely. This is consistent with how people react to severe trauma. Eddie's awareness of his crime only serves to mock James's childish denial.

It helps to look at the entire story of the game as being like a drawn out metaphor for something that could actually be happening instantaniously in James' mind, maybe immediately after the crime. Jacob's Ladder, which serves as inspiration for the game, expresses a similar idea. The whole story could be seen as a momentary flash in the mind of the dying protagonist.

_________________"Star Wars is like the thing that isn't remotely cool anymore but that nobody will stop talking about of my generation" -Me.

Eddie's extremely visceral reaction to the body in the fridge makes me wonder if he wasn't unaware of what he had done for some time as well. James regretted and despised his actions while Eddie embraced them. Other than that, I think they both had a similar episode.

That goes for Angela too. I don't think she remembered what she had done until the town forced her to confront it.

My interpretation of that scene was that Eddie did kill the guy in the fridge, though not necessarily out of malice or in a fit of anger. Could be that the guy startled him and Eddie opened fire in self-defense, then got sick over it. This would be, after all, the first time Eddie killed a human being.

Ryantology wrote:

Even if that's technically true, it is not a denial which resembles Eddie's in any way, as Eddie is fully aware of what he has done (in fact, is doing) and is just lying about it until he feels safe enough to not bother anymore. .

See, I have a different view of his characterization. I don't think Eddie is a sociopath or a psychopath or whatever you want to call it, at least not initially. I think that from the time he arrives in Silent Hill to after James runs into him at the bowling alley, Eddie is at a crossroads.

Eddie's scared and nervous, mostly about facing punishment, but also about what he's becoming. At least part of him wants to go home again, but knows the old saying. He may not have enough empathy for his victims to feel guilty exactly, but might still have enough to wonder if he should feel remorse, and if a lack of it makes him irredeemable. He may no longer feel he has a chance at any kind of forgiveness or return to normalcy ("It's no good. They wouldn't listen. Nobody will ever forgive me."), and therefore sees little point in having a conscience if it can't be soothed.

So by the time James comes across Eddie in the prison, he's changed, in that he's made up his mind. He's decided that he was fully justified in doing what he did, that there's no longer any shame in enjoying it, and that there's no turning back. By this point, he no longer even wants to.

I think Eddie represents the side of James that simply wants to accept what he has done.Though, when Eddie is killed, James got a new "Trauma" showing us that James is not like him at all. So that part of him gets "squashed" by guilt and regret, etc.

This theory of mine falls flat on it's face when we look at Angela though, which would represent his will to commit suicide, she "dies" or maybe not, but we can still get the "In the water" ending. Or asuming Angela survives the theory is still valid.

I think Eddie represents the side of James that simply wants to accept what he has done.Though, when Eddie is killed, James got a new "Trauma" showing us that James is not like him at all. So that part of him gets "squashed" by guilt and regret, etc.

This theory of mine falls flat on it's face when we look at Angela though, which would represent his will to commit suicide, she "dies" or maybe not, but we can still get the "In the water" ending. Or asuming Angela survives the theory is still valid.

I believe there is a reason why James interacts and sees the people he does. For example, I think if we played as Angela we would interact with James and possibly a couple "new" people which intersect more with her problems and her story. We see Eddie interacting with Laura, and Laura's purpose may be to rile his cage and show him that he can't become murderous just because someone calls him fat (and she certainly makes fun of him, to a point where I found it to be shockingly rude). But we don't see Angela interacting with Eddie. Maybe they do off- camera, but its possible Eddie serves no purpose to Angela in Silent Hill; thus he is virtually invisible while others experiecing Silent Hill can only be seen through Angela and not James, Eddie, etc.

I believe there is a reason why James interacts and sees the people he does. For example, I think if we played as Angela we would interact with James and possibly a couple "new" people which intersect more with her problems and her story. We see Eddie interacting with Laura, and Laura's purpose may be to rile his cage and show him that he can't become murderous just because someone calls him fat (and she certainly makes fun of him, to a point where I found it to be shockingly rude). But we don't see Angela interacting with Eddie. Maybe they do off- camera, but its possible Eddie serves no purpose to Angela in Silent Hill; thus he is virtually invisible while others experiecing Silent Hill can only be seen through Angela and not James, Eddie, etc.

I don't think Eddie became murderous "just" because someone called him fat. On the contrary, I think for the vast majority of his life, he was quite passive and kind of a punching bag, up until he wasn't. Note that he isn't angry when Laura insults him; he's hurt, and unable to deal with it in any way other than being satisfied when she leaves and apathetic to what happens to her. His expressions of anger seem to be as brutal as they are not only because he has trouble handling the emotion, but also because it takes a long time (and repeated efforts) to get him to the point where he blows a fuse in the first place. All of this mirrors the verbal abuse James suffered from Mary during her mood swings, and how he suffered in relative silence despite his emotional turmoil, which included feelings of great anger.